The UK: England

Basics:

Capital: London              
Language: English
Population: 53,013,000 (2011)
Size: 244110 km2
Monetary unit: pound
GDP: 16900 $
National day: 2. Saturday in June
International organisation: EU, UN, NATO, OECD
Religion: Christianity-Protestant
(wikipedia.org)

England is the largest country in the Great Britain, both in areal and population. There are more than 53 million people living in England, which is almost 83 % of the total population in GB. London is the capital of England, and also the capital of the UK (=England, Whales, Scotland and North Ireland). London is also the largest city, both in areal and in population. England is probably the first country you think of according to the language English: English is the one and only main language in England. (wikipedia.org)

This is the English flag: 

(picture from http://fotballmagasinet.no/?mode=news&query=lag%3ASpain)

…And here’s the flag of Great Britain:
 
(Picture from http://www.reiseverdenrundt.com/storbritannia-sin-historie-geografi-demografi-og-all-fakta-du-b%C3%B8r-kunne/)

England borders to Whales, Scotland, the Irish sea, North sea, English channel and the Celtic sea. 

(Picture from  http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/europe/england/)

The current prime minister in England (and the UK) is David Cameron, from the Conservative party. The parties which makes up the Government today is the Conservative party, the Labor Party and the Liberal Party. (wikipedia.org)

The English school system is a bit different from the Norwegian school system. To illustrate this, here’s a picture comparing the school systems in Norway, the US and England: 

(Picture from http://ndla.no/en/node/76071)

England has a temperate maritime climate with mild temperatures. The precipitation pr year is mostly below 1000 mm, the rain is spread troughout the year. (snl.no)

As a highly industrialized country, England has a well-structured trade infrastructure. Among other things, England as an industry produces machine tools, electric power equipment, ships, aircrafts, etc. Some of England’s major export partners are the US, Germany and the Netherlands. (economywatch.com)

The people living in England are known to be very polite. They often use the word “please”, sometimes it might seem like they’re using it at the end of every sentence. We find the most polite ones in the southern part of England, where they treat strangers politely and correctly. The people from the northern part of England are considered as more talkative and social, and refer to the southerners as snobs, while the people in south consider northerners as lazy and primitive. (ndla.no)

“The tube” is a famous underground in London (London Underground). Here are some fun facts about the Tube:

1. In London the tube route from Leicester Square to Covent Garden is the most popular tube route for tourists despite the fact that it is actually quicker to cover this distance on foot!

2. The tube system, despite being the first and the largest underground system in the world, is also the most unreliable and the costliest.

3. The 409 escalators in the London subway cover a distance every week which is approximately equivalent to several trips around the globe! (venere.com)

(Picture from http://blogabooketc.wordpress.com/2013/01/09/london-underground/)

I’ve been to England three times (all times in London), the last time was last summer during the Olympics. Me and my family are very into volleyball, so we went to 5 volleyball matches, two beach volleyball semi-finals, to indoor semi-finals and the women’s indoor final. As we had already been to London twice, we didn’t do so much sightseeing, but we did some shopping (of course!). It’s kind of fascinating to walk down Oxford Street (the most famous shopping street in London), there are so many different people there, all speaking different languages, wearing very different clothes and acting so differently.

Sources


EconomyWatch Content: "England Trade, England Exports, England Imports"
http://www.economywatch.com/world_economy/england/export-import.html
Anne Scott Hagen: "The North - South divide
http://ndla.no/en/node/5583?fag=42&meny=2149
Svein Askheim: "Englands natur" (for snl)
http://snl.no/England/natur

Venere Travel Blog: "19 fun facts about the UK"
http://www.venere.com/blog/uk-fun-facts/

Wikipedia: "David Cameron"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cameron
Wikipedia: England
http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/England